Buggy Caught in Train Doors

[whole diary]

[eightf48544]

Piece in Maidenhead Advertiser today (19th Sept) about a mother with a twin buggy having the buggy caught by the closing train doors at Burham. Allegedly  14:47 to Reading (13:42 Padd Reading) on 5th September.

Trouble with Burnham being an island is driver is wrong side to platform so uses mirror.

[bobm]

Just to assist those who cannot see the article, here it is - complete with initial response from FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/News/Areas/Maidenhead/Mum-faces-station-scare-after-baby-buggy-gets-jammed-in-train-doors-18092013.htm

Mum faces station scare after baby buggy gets jammed in train doors
 


A mother-of-four from Maidenhead faced a nightmare scenario after her twin toddler's pushchair became stuck in train doors moments before it departed the station.
 
Elaine Kerrigan was attempting to get on the 2.47pm train at Burnham Station on Thursday, September 5 with two-year-old sons Austin and Bentley who were in their double buggy.
 
The 36-year-old, of Ross Road, claims the doors closed onto the pushchair causing it to become jammed and that there were no members of staff to come to her aid.
 
She was assisted by a man on the platform who helped push the buggy safely on board allowing only a few seconds to get on herself.
 
Elaine, who was returning home to Maidenhead with the twins after visiting a family member, said her sons were half in and half out of the carriage and she thought that the train would pull away.
 
"The boys were calling for me and I was trying to hold the buggy," she said.
 
"If it wasn't for a person on the platform coming to help lord knows what would of happened," added Elaine, a stay-at-home mum who also has a teenage son and daughter but weren't with her at the time.
 
"The buggy is a write-off," she added.
 
Following the event Elaine wrote to the customer care team at First Great Western and is awaiting a response.
 
She said: "The least they could do is ring up and say that they will replace the buggy.
 
"God forbid if something like this happened to someone else I would never forgive myself."
 
First Great Western informed the Advertiser they received Elaine's letter on Monday and are now investigating.
 
This will include looking at CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) footage to find out exactly what happened.

It is not the first reported incident at Burnham either - http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11182.0

[JayMac]

And it's worth noting that the train would have been unable to pull away with such a large obstruction in the doors. The driver would not have got door interlock.

[a-driver]

There is an audible hustle alarm that sounds before the doors close, the CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) will be interesting viewing to see when she attempted to board the train... my guess, at the very last minute when that hustle alarm was sounding.   

[JayMac]

It can take some time to load a double buggy onto a train. The hustle alarm only gives a few seconds between sounding and the doors closing.

An alternative guess, for balance, is the driver failed to check it was safe to close the doors.

Both scenarios are equally plausible and both are speculation.

With my moderator hat on I suggest it best to not speculate further.